Ings ruled out for rest of the season

Liverpool have announced that striker Danny Ings will miss the rest of the season due to a knee injury.

Ings is to undergo surgery in London today after suffering knee cartilage damage in last week’s 2-1 EFL Cup victory over Tottenham at Anfield, and is facing seven to nine months out of action.

The problem is with the 24-year-old’s right knee, not the same knee affected when an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in October last year ruled him out for most of 2015-16.

Ings, who was making only his second appearance of the season when he came on as a substitute in the fourth-round tie against Spurs, picked up the new injury while attempting to make a challenge in the closing stages of the game.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said on the club’s official website: “To say we are gutted would be an understatement; he is such a great boy and has worked so hard that he deserves better luck than this.

“It is typical of Danny’s personality, on and off the pitch, that he picked up this injury to his knee when courageously trying to win the ball back for his team by making a tackle.

“But it is this same personality that means he will come back as good and as strong from this latest setback as he has done in the past.

“I’m told the likely lay-off is anywhere from between seven to nine months. He is mentally strong, physically strong and will have the very best treatment and rehab possible to make sure when he returns he is ready to play for us at the level we know he is capable of.”

Ings joined Liverpool from Burnley in the summer of 2015 and had scored three goals in eight games for his new club - and just made his senior England debut - when he sustained the injury to his left knee in a Reds training session.

That kept him out until he came off the bench in Liverpool’s final Premier League match of last season, a 1-1 draw at West Brom.

This term his only first-team involvement has been in the EFL Cup, coming on as a substitute in a third-round 3-0 win at Derby before doing likewise last week and suffering his latest major setback.